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Mount Giano (formerly known as Mount Cotischio ) is a mountain in the central Abruzzo Apennines, 1,820 m above sea level. Located on the border between Lazio and Abruzzo, along the Apennine Drainage divide, it belongs to the Cicolano Mountains subgroup.

Description
It is located in the province of Rieti northeast of Antrodoco and dominates, with a prominence of about 1,300 m, the lower part of the Velino Gorge that separates it from the Terminillo massif to the west, with the Monte Nuria mountain group to the south and the Monte Calvo mountain group to the east representing its natural geomorphological continuation; to the north, it connects directly to the Monti Reatini, while to the northeast it looks toward the Cascina Plain and the Monti dell'Alto Aterno.

The central peak reaches 1,820 meters, but other peaks, including Croce di Monte Giano (1,779.3 m), exceed 1,700 meters. Between these is the Mount Giano Meadows plateau.

On the mountain's slopes are the typical essences of the Mediterranean scrub: downy oaks, oaks, and maples, reaching up to 1,200/1,300 meters. Above 1,300 meters, Beech trees begin to be found, which reach up to about 1,700 meters on the western slope.

At the southern end of Mount Giano, in the narrow space between it and the adjacent Mount Serrone (1,044 m), are the gorges of Antrodoco (a narrow, wild incision in the rock, about 1.5 km long), which are an obligatory crossing point for communications between Rieti and L'Aquila. For this reason, the Strada Statale 17 and the Terni-L'Aquila railway climb Mount Giano, which can thus reach the Sella di Corno pass from the Velino valley.

Because of their strategic location, and the ease with which they allowed ambushes to be set up, the Antrodoco Gorges have been the scene of several military events over the centuries: among them, the defeat of the French army in 1799 and the resurgent Battle of Rieti in 1821.

The "DUX" pine forest
On its western slope, the mountain owes some notoriety to the presence of a pine forest that forms the inscription "DVX" (duce, from Latin dux, ducis). The inscription dominates the Velino valley and is visible from several kilometers away, approaching Antrodoco on the Via Salaria; on days with little mist, especially when the mountain is snow-covered, the inscription is visible even from the city of Rome.

The pine forest covers about eight hectares and consists of about 20,000 pine trees; it was intended to defend the town of Antrodoco from landslides caused by heavy winter rains, which had repeatedly caused death and devastation and constituted a tribute to Benito Mussolini. It was built in 1939 (during the Fascist period) by the Cittaducale Forest Guard Cadet School, with the contribution of many local youths, through the reforestation of an originally desolate limestone coastline.

From the postwar period onward, the erasure of the inscription has been repeatedly called for, opposed instead by those who consider it an integral part of the landscape and history of the village, as well as by those nostalgic for Italian fascism. In the 1950s, new reforestation was carried out, whereby the rectangle below the word DUX[10] was created to make the inscription less obvious. Abandonment of the forest over the years gradually made the inscription less recognizable.

Because of their strategic location, and the ease with which they allowed ambushes to be set up, the Antrodoco Gorges have been the scene of several military events over the centuries: among them, the defeat of the French army in 1799 and the resurgent Battle of Rieti in 1821.

Due to new landslides and rock fall in 1995, the Lazio region (Badaloni junta) approved work to restore the pine forest, financed in 1998 and executed in the summer of 2004. On August 24, 2017, the pine forest was severely damaged by a fire of guilty or possibly arson origin. In February 2018, CasaPound volunteers planted 1,000 pine trees on Mount Janus to restore the sign. The operation was deemed unnecessary by local community members because of the wrong timing.

Related items

 * Monti Reatini